VOA慢速英语 2008 0112

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

The American presidential campaign took a surprising turn this week.

 
Hillary Clinton
Senator Hillary Clinton won the Democratic vote in the first primary state, New Hampshire, on Tuesday. That was after she finished third last week in the Iowa caucuses². And Senator John McCain won the Republican primary in New Hampshire after he finished fourth in Iowa.

Political experts say the battle for the nomination³ in both parties is wide open.

The big winners in Iowa were Senator Barack Obama for the Democrats⁴ and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee for the Republicans.

 
Barack Obama
Public opinion researchers predicted that Barack Obama would win New Hampshire by as much as twelve points. But Hillary Clinton won a narrow victory, at thirty-nine percent to Senator Obama’s thirty-six percent.

Hillary Clinton had some of her strongest support among older women. The New York senator and former first lady hopes to become the country’s first female president. Senator Obama would be the first African-American president. The Illinois senator has enjoyed wide support among people under the age of thirty.

The Clinton campaign was not sure how voters would react after people saw an emotional side of her that they are not used to seeing. It happened Monday at a question-and-answer event in New Hampshire. Tears came to her eyes as she talked about not wanting to see the country fall backwards⁵.

 
John McCain
In the Republican race, John McCain found support among voters concerned about national security and terrorism. The Arizona senator also appears to have been helped by independent voters. He defeated former Massachusetts governor Mitt⁶ Romney. Mike Huckabee came in third.

Voters in New Hampshire said the most important issues were the economy and the war in Iraq.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson dropped out of the Democratic race this week. He finished fourth in New Hampshire. Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd left the Democratic race after receiving low numbers in Iowa.

 
Mike Huckabee
Primary season began last week with Iowa’s caucus¹ meetings. Primaries and caucuses are the American process used to choose delegates to the national nominating conventions. The Democrats will meet in late August and the Republicans in early September. The conventions are where candidates are officially chosen to represent their party in the general election in November.

Later this month, primaries will be held in other states including Nevada and South Carolina. But the big event will be Super Tuesday on February fifth. More states will be voting on Super Tuesday than in past years. More than twenty states including California, New York and Illinois will hold their primaries that day.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. For more news about the presidential campaign, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

 

1 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

2 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

3 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

6 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。